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steering box

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tahoe healey

tahoe healey

Yoda
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I am soon to attempt re-sealing the steering box with out removing it form the car. Has any one done this and what should I look out for? Gasket sealer type? Torque settings? Removal of front grill for access? Thanks.
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It depends upon where the box is leaking. The top & end plate gaskets do not usually leak. The olive nut on the end plate may leak but not usually. If it does, A new olive should help.

The real culprit is the seal on the bottom of the rocker (vertical) shaft. it would be very hard to replace this seal with the box in place.

There are special "non-leak", thicker, lubes or greases available which are supposed to leak less. You may decide to just live with a leak & top up as required.

If you do tackle the problem, it could be done with the grille in place but would be easier with it removed.
D
 
Hi,

Since I was also worried about oil dribble, I cleaned the inside of the box, then packed it with an EP grease that tended to have more oil separation than some do. I figured the oil separating from the grease would do a better job of continued lubrication than a dry, pasty grease that would not continue to lubricate once it was pushed out of the way.

Scooter
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The leak seems to be form the olive and the front gasket. I think a seal was left off the bottom shaft as there is a lot of spline showing. I'm planning to replace all seals, gaskets, and olive.
 
Scooter,

I heard from a very knowledgeable local Mobil Lubricants distributor that EP lubricants are a no-no in places where there are bronze and other soft metal bushings. Apparently they convert regular grease and gear oils to EP by adding sulphur based compounds (hence the extra ODOR). Apparently sulphur has the ability to quickly corrode the soft metal bushings.

I am going to try a straight 140 weight Mobil synthetic oil from Grainger ($10/quart).

Wally
 
Interesting. When I removed the old fluid it stank like sulpher. I put in new "fluid" form Moss. Fluid is not the term for this jello even when heated as instructed. I hope it's the right stuff cause it's so thick it would take years to drip out the drain hole. Isn't the brass olive and nut out of contact with the sulpher being on the out side of the steering box?
 
I think the olive is there to seal the gap around the stator tube, so it would be in contact with the lubricant (a little bit anyway).

The reason I brought it up was beacause the main load bearing bushing in the bottom of the box can be eaten away by the sulphur.
 
Hi, It was years ago, so I don't remember much about the particulars, but I DID replace the seal and foam spacer with the box in the BJ8. Hard to get to everything, but doable.
 
I have attempted to get the arm off twice and have not suceeded. I need to get that tool mentioned above from Harbor Freight. There is not enough space for the two arm geer puller I have. But thanks all for the advice. In the mean time I tried to repace the windshield which turned into another nightmare. (see other post)
 
Thanks Dave. I have not yet solved the steering arm removal due to a problem with a windshield (see other post). That was some good info.
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